Apple Gains Sequential Tablet Share, Loses Share Year-Over-Year

By Bryan Chaffin

May 1st, 2013 10:34 PM EDT

It's a mixed bag for Apple's iPad in a new report from IDC for 2013 March quarter tablet shipments. Apple gained share compared to the December quarter, but lost significant share compared to the March quarter of 2012. Samsung and "Others" took most of that share, though Microsoft is at last on the board with 1.8 percent of the market.

Total tablet shipments grew 142.4 percent year of year to 49.2 million units. IDC reported that Apple shipped 19.5 million iPads, a number that matches Apple's own reported numbers for the quarter, though Apple reports sales not shipments. Apple beats IDC's projection for the quarter of 18.7 million units.

"Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected first quarter for Apple," Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC, said in a statement.

He added, "By moving the iPad launch to the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple seems to have avoided the typical first-quarter slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March."

The chart below shows the huge increase in the number of units. Note the enormous increase in Samsung units shipped from 2.3 million to 8.8 million. The "Others" category also saw a sharp rise from 4.9 million to 15.5 million.

Chart by The Mac Observer from IDC data

While Apple saw 65 percent growth year-over-year, that wasn't enough to maintain share. In the year ago quarter, Apple had 58.1percent of the market, but the company claimed only 39.6 percent for Q1 2013, as shown in the chart below. Samsung's share increased from 11.3 percent to 17.9 percent. Amazon's share was essentially flat, while "Others" increased from just below a quarter of the market to 31.5 percent.

Chart by The Mac Observer from IDC data

IDC also offered up data for sequential comparison, where the situation is a little different. Compared to the December quarter of 2012, Apple gained 2.2 percent, while Samsung gained 7.1 percent. That's still an impressive feat for Samsung, but don't expect to see any mainstream headlines about Apple gaining sequential share iPad losing share over the year-ago quarter makes for more clicks.